New Year's Resolution: Stop Talking About Championship Windows

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Most teams coming off of a 6-10 season that started with Super Bowl aspirations would be a bit embarrassed to openly discuss winning a title the next year. Not our beloved boys wearing the blue stars, however. They are ignoring the past and running full bore toward a future that only they see.

The window is kind of closing," Bradie James said. "I'm going into my ninth year. I can remember when I first stepped on campus, actually. So we don't have time. The realization of this game is, we've got to make something happen now or I'm going to retire a non-Super Bowl winner. That's just how it goes."

James is mistaking his own career mortality for something that has to do with the Cowboys as a whole. When you look at the essential members of the Cowboys roster, they don't share James's concerns. Tony Romo, Felix Jones, Miles Austin and Dez Bryant are all going to be around for a while. So will Jay Ratliff and DeMarcus Ware, although that list of names presents another problem with the idea of a window closing on the Cowboys.

There simply aren't a lot of players on this team that make you think they are on the verge of a championship. There are plenty of good players, like James, but not nearly enough superlative ones to make you think that something really special is brewing at JerryWorld. The problems with the championship window idea don't stop there.

If you're going to talk about things like a window of opportunity, it should really be concerning a team that has been close for a while without getting over the hump. The Cowboys have won one playoff game since 1996 and haven't played for as much as a conference title since 1995. And, once again, this team went 6-10 this season and deserved every one of those losses.

The only window in evidence, then, is the one into the delusional mind of James and anyone else who thinks the Cowboys are on the verge of a title.